The reaction of those who defended “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski for meeting with President-elect Trump sounds almost quaint in the days of opinionated journalism.

It was the last thing you might expect if you watched MSNBC's “Morning Joe” a month ago — hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski asking for a meeting and traveling to Mar-a-Lago to talk with President-elect Donald Trump.

MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough says he was “surprised and disappointed” the news and talk show was pulled off the air the day before and that the explanation he was given didn't hold water.

President Biden's performance in last week's debate with Donald Trump led to some extraordinary media moments.

Journalists see themselves as truth-tellers, and sometimes as contrarians.

NBC News will cut ties with former Republican National Committee chief Ronna McDaniel, hired last week as an on-air political contributor.

A Michigan lawmaker, mother and LGBTQ rights supporter who was accused by a Republican colleague of wanting to “groom” schoolchildren says her impassioned response resonated because people are sick of such attacks.

Stephanie Ruhle is replacing Brian Williams on the weeknight MSNBC broadcast ‘The 11th Hour,’ and the show ‘Morning Joe’ will expand to four hours.

MSNBC says it has hired former Biden aide Symone Sanders to host a weekend television show and another on its Peacock streaming service.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)NEW YORK – At the end of Donald Trump's presidency, television networks left the mute button unused. CNN's Wolf Blitzer, meanwhile, called it “totally inappropriate” and said it was “pretty repulsive” that Trump didn't cite Biden. The Washington Post updated its count of lies and misstatements by Trump: 30,534 heading into his last day as president. Over on CNN, Dana Bash watched Trump leave the White House for the final time as president and walk to the Marine One helicopter.

(David Tulis/Pool Photo via AP)NEW YORK – After Air Force One took Donald Trump out of Washington, an unusual Inauguration Day quickly felt more traditional — even comforting — for people watching at home. "What we're seeing today is an ejection of insurrection.”Trump skipped the inauguration of his successor, the first president to break that tradition since 1869. “If Democrats need thousands of troops to occupy the Capitol on Inauguration Day, then it seems possible that their candidate wasn't actually elected by the people,” Sharp said. “He said that there is truth and there are lies, lies that are told for power and lies that are told for profit,” Wallace said. The Washington Post updated its count of lies and misstatements by Trump: 30,534 heading into his last day as president.

Because votes are counted state by state, verdicts by the media outlets' decision desks serve as the unofficial finish line for the presidential race. The closeness of the race in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina proved another challenge. “We just have to be certain before we call a winner in the presidential election,” said Sally Buzbee, executive editor and senior vice president of the AP. Heading into Saturday, CNN, CBS, NBC and ABC — which coordinate their vote counts and exit polls — had Biden at 253 electoral votes. All know that calling a presidential election wrong is a career-wrecker.

Monday represented a key phase in New York City's reopening, with many offices bringing employees back for the first time. Despite the CBS and Fox moves, most news employees continue to work remotely, and the television programs that originate here have a patchwork of approaches that have quickly become familiar. A majority of the show hosts on MSNBC including Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist of Morning Joe work remotely. Other morning shows have varied approaches. Hoda Kotb of NBC's Today show has worked out of that show's Rockefeller Center studio, but most of her colleagues are at home.

WASHINGTON For weeks, President Donald Trump has been eager to publicly turn the page on the coronavirus pandemic. Now fears are growing within the White House that the very thing that finally shoved the virus from center stage mass protests over the death of George Floyd may bring about its resurgence. The White House coronavirus task force, which has dramatically scaled back its operations as states reopen their economies, is scrambling to track the potential impact on infection rates. Dr. Deborah Birx, the administrations coronavirus coordinator, has been monitoring the protests since they began, looking for indicators of potential resurgence in cases, a White House official said. White House officials are warily watching metropolitan areas where the protests have ignited, hoping that the outdoor settings reduce the risk.